‘Lost’ Holocaust testimonies part of film to be screened at New Haven theater

By Joe Amarante

Updated
4:37 pm EDT, Sunday, May 13, 2018

Survivors who were interviewed for the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project.

Survivors who were interviewed for the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project.

Photo: Courtesy Of Harvey Bravman

Photo: Courtesy Of Harvey Bravman

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Survivors who were interviewed for the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project.

Survivors who were interviewed for the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project.

Photo: Courtesy Of Harvey Bravman

‘Lost’ Holocaust testimonies part of film to be screened at New Haven theater

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A Massachusetts-made documentary based on 80 hours of local Holocaust survivors’ testimonies will have a special screening May 17 in New Haven.

“Soul Witness, the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project,” began more than 25 years ago when Lawrence Langer conducted about 85 percent of the interviews and supervised the rest. the Town of Brookline hoped there would be a living memorial based on the testimonies, but the tapes were locked away instead, unseen by the general public until now, says producer Harvey Bravman in an email.

“A copy of each interview was supposed to go the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimony at Yale and a copy was supposed to stay in Brookline to be part of a living memorial,” said Bravman in an email. “The living memorial never happened. When I was introduced to the Brookline tapes they had been sitting in a metal closet for over 20 years. I had them digitized and restored before making the film. They had mold and were in bad shape.

“In the process of all of this, we also discovered that Yale had only received copies of 75 percent of the interviews. So in the process of making the film, we worked with the Town of Brookline to deliver the missing interviews that never made it to Yale.”

After several sold-out Boston area screenings, the work-in-progress documentary film (pending a final distribution agreement) will be shown at Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas at 7 p.m. on May 17. The interviews are part of the Fortunoff Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale.

The film is intended for a general audience with an advisory for children under 13.

Mark Skvirsky, vice president of Facing History and Ourselves, said in a release, “This film is important both for the stories that survivors share, but also for the way their voices are presented. The structure and tone of the film ‘humanizes’ these individuals who might otherwise be perceived simply as victims.”

Witnesses describe their lives before the war, growing intolerance, their lives during the war and the effect their experiences still had on them at the time of the interviews. Some survived death camps, some hid, others fought in resistance movements and many saved the lives of others, according to the news release.

Following the film, the Fortunoff Video Archive will sponsor a question-and-answer period with the film’s writer, director and producer Bravman and Holocaust testimony expert Langer.

Bravman said, “These interviews contain some of the most epic and noble words I’ve ever heard. The stories and lessons from those who survived this unimaginable tragedy and who bravely shared their experiences 25 years ago provide an important message for our society. In many cases they talk directly about issues of intolerance, racism and genocide, as well as their immigrant and refugee experience.”